Buffing stick feeder



Feb. 26, 1957 c. R. HOUSDORFER 'BUFFING STICKFEEDER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 7, 1955 IN VEN TOR. C ar/ R Housoor er c. R. HOUSDORFER 2,782,575

BUFFING STICK FEEDER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 26, 1957 Fil ed Nov. 7, 1955 IN VEN TOR. usoorfer Q 5 Bi E E f 2 A 6 .0 #9 Ill M v M 0 m 2 H 2 m u m w :f. E H 7/ w B L 6 y; E. 2 z n m 2 3 A E m 1 Feb. 26, 1957 c. R. HOUSDORFE 2,782,575

BUFFING STICK FEEDER Filed Nov. 7, 1955 3 shevets sheet 3 \X 7/ 4 INVENTQB,

ggrl R Housaorfr Affol ne y I BUFFEIG STICK FEEDER Carl R. Housdorfer, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Application November 7, 1955, Serial No. 545,202

7 Claims. (Cl. 51-263) This invention is directed to and concerned with a very useful, novel and particularly effective butling or polishing stick feeder.

Buffing or polishing Wheels are driven at high rotative speeds and against them the articles which are to be buifed or polished are pressed. Buffing and polishing compositions in so-called stick form, with my invention are pressed at one end against the peripheral surfaces of the wheels, the bufiing and polishing material adhering to and being continuously supplied to the wheels so that the articles are acted upon by such compounds in accordance with the nature of the materials used.

With my invention a novel and very effective feeder may be used with each of the butting or polishing wheels to which material is to be supplied. As the stick wears and becomes shorter in length the stick is fed to keep the stick end which is against the peripheral surface of the butting or polishing wheel in contact therewith in order that a sufficient amount of the butting or polishing compound is supplied at all times.

With my invention the stick feeder may be operated intermittently or, preferably, periodically and in varying amounts, the adjustment for which is accomplished in a particularly simple and practical manner. Furthermore, with my invention upon a stick being reduced in length so that it should be no longer fed, a simple, novel and practical means is provided for automatically stopping the feed of the stick though the mechanism which normally does such feeding is continuously operating. Afurther object of the invention is to provide a buffing or polishing stick feeder which is exceptionally sturdy and durable and certain in its operations, with little or no likelihood of getting out of order.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 shows the buffing or polishing stick feeder in an application thereof to a butting or polishing wheel, the butting machine and feeder being shown in elevation.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the stick feeder made in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged, generally central vertical section at the feeding end of the feeder.

Fig. 4 is a partial fragmentary vertical section and side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3, with the parts of such mechanism in a different position.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the feeding end of said feeder, and

Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section substantially on the plane of line 6-6 of Fig. 2 illustrating the structure of a releasable clamp adjacent the feeding end of the stick and the delivery end of the feeder. I

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawings.

In Fig. 1 a butting wheel 1 is shown as mounted to turn about a horizontal axis, the feeder of my invention being secured at the upper rear part of the hood 2 which usually covers the major portion of the wheel. The feeder nited States Patent 0 2,782,575 Patented Feb. 2%, 1957 is secured by any suitable attaching brackets 3 so that the stick of bufiing or polishing material may pass through an opening in the hood and have its lower end in contact engagement with the peripheral edges of the bufiing wheel.

The feeder body which holds the stick of bufi'lng or polishing material is of generally cross sectional channel form, having a horizontal bottom 4 and spaced vertical sides or flanges 5 extending upwardly from opposite longitudinal edges of the bottom. At the rear end of such channel a transverse vertical end closure member 6 is fixedly secured, the opposite end being open. Such structure including the channel like body and its end 6 is adapted to have an elongated stick 7 of the bufiing or polishing material, shown as rectangular in cross section, placed therein. The stick extends beyond the open end of said body while the opposite end is spaced greater or less distances from the member 6 in accordance with the extent that it is moved into engagement with the buffing wheel and the amounts of the material deposited thereon. While the stick of buffing or polishing material is shown as rectangular in cross section, various other sticks of different cross section may be used, the body or holder for the stick being designed to conform thereto.

A generally horizontal rod 8 passes freely through the end member 6 and, at What may be termed its front end, is equipped with a disk like head 9 which comes against the rear or outer end of the buffing stick 7. Two plates 10 of fiat metal spaced from each other are bolted or otherwise permanently secured at one end of the rear side of the member 6 and at the other end have bolted thereto a vertical plate 11 through which rod 8 also freely passes.

A compressed air receiving cylinder 12 is adjustably mounted at the upper end of the plate 11 and may be adjusted and moved to different positions by means of the bolt and slot connections shown in Fig. 2. Compressed air will be supplied intermittently or periodically to the outer end of the cylinder 12. Such cylinder carries within it a one way spring actuated piston from which a rod 14 extends outwardly at the end opposite the air carrying tube 13. The structure of the cylinder with its piston and a spring therewithin to normally move the outwardly projecting rod 14 back to the position shown in Fig. 4 is a common and well known cylinder piston structure, long available on the market, and known to those skilled in the art and which, as to its known specific structure requires no additional disclosure.

When compressed air is entered into the cylinder through the tube 13 to force the rod 14 outwardly against the spring from the position shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 3, the outer free end of the rod 14 comes against a rectangular plate 15 which is mounted at its lower end to turn about a horizontal pivotal axis 16 mounted on plates 10. A nut 17 is at the rear side and adjacent the upper end of the member 6. A screw 18 is threaded through the member 6 and the nut. At its rear end it serves as a stop to limit the swinging movement of plate 15 from its dashed line position in Fig. 3 to its full line position in which it comes against the end of screw 18. A coiled spring 19 is between the nut 17 and plate 15 serving to maintain the plate always in contact with the outer end of rod 14. It is apparent that by adjusting the position of the screw 18 the plate 15 may be controlled in the extent of its pivotal movement, being greater the more screw 18 is withdrawn and the less if it is moved toward such plate 15 when in the position shown in Fig. 4.

An additional plate 29 is located between the parts 10 and has an opening through which rod 8 freely passes and on which it is carried. A coiled compression spring 21 is between the plate 20 and the end 6 of the stick holder, normally moving such plate rearwardly so that at its rear side and near its upper end it comes against the head of a rivet 22 carried by the plate 15 a short distance above its pivot 16.

At the rear side of the vertical plate 11 which carries the cylinder 12, a still additional plate 23 is hingedly connected at 24 at its upper edge to the plate 11, extends downwardly and to the rear and has an opening through which the rod 8 passes. A coiled spring 25 between the members 11 and 23 normally swings such member outwardly causing the rod 8 to be gripped and prevent its longitudinal movement in opposition to its stick feeding direction but freely permitting such movement in the opposite direction. A small rod 26 passes freely through the plate 11 and at opposite ends comes closely adjacent the plates 20 and 23. A rod 27 extends through the outer end of the rod 8 and comes against the outer side of the gripping plate 23 when feeding the stick 7 has gone to its limit.

The passage of compressed air through the tube or pipe 13 may be controlled by interposing a valve at 28 in the air line (Fig. 1), opened by a depression of a projecting pin 29. The depressing of the pin 29 to open the valve is shown in Fig. 1 as controlled by a pivotally mounted lever 30, the outer end of which is engaged and depressed periodically twice with each revolution of the rod 31 secured to the shaft of a motor 32. With this structure compressed air is periodically, at equal time intervals, passed into the cylinder 12 to force the rod 14 outwardly to the position in Fig. 3, the rod being at once returned by spring action with the exhaust of air in the cylinder when the valve in housing 28 again closes. Such periodic operation of the air control valve is shown as one way only of operating the valve. Many other ways of operating either periodically or intermittently as by hand or by a foot pedal may also be availed of, the invention not depending upon the manner in which the air is controlled.

At the outer end of the holder of the stick it is desirablc to clamp the stick in a manner such that it will not aimlessly or accidentally be displaced and likewise permit the feeding thereof toward the buffing or polishing Wheel. Such clamp is shown in Figs. 2 and 6. Adjacent the open delivery end of the holder a vertical bar 33 (Fig. 6) is permanently secured to a vertical side 5 of the holder extending thereabove. An inverted channel 34 is pivotally connected at one end at 35 near the upper end of the bar 33 and may extend across and above the upper side of the stick 7 to the opposite side 5 of the holder. A latching dog 36 having an upper end, laterally extending arm 36a is provided at its lower end portion with a hook 37 to engage under a keeper 38 riveted to such opposite side 5 of the holder. The latching dog has a pivotal connection at 39 through the arm 36a to the free end of the channel 34 and is yieldably held in keeper engaging position by a leaf spring 40 as shown.

The lower edges of the channel 34 are above the upper side of the stick 7. On such channel 4 a second shorter channel having a web 41 and spaced upwardly extending flanges 42 is mounted covering and embracing the sides of the channel 34. The flanges 42 of the second channel are vertically slotted, as shown in Fig. 6, and a pin 43 passes therethrough and through the channel 34 permitting vertical bodily movement of the second channel, the lower side or Web 41 of which is yieldingly forced downward by coiled springs 44 so that a yielding spring pressure is exerted upon the upper side of the stick 7 when such clamping mechanism is in its operative position as in Fig. 6. Such pressure permits the outward feeding movement of the stick 7 but holds the stick against any accidental, aimless or undesired movement.

In the operation compressed air being entered into the cylinder 12, the rod 14 is moved outwardly from the positionrin Fig. 4 to that in Fig. 3, tilting the plate 15 about its pivotal mounting at 16 until it comes against the end of the screw 18. Such screw, as previously described, by adjusting it to different positions will control the length of the stroke of the rod 14 and the extent of swinging movement of the plate 15. The head at 22 of the rivet will be moved in a clockwise direction through a small circular arc and move the plate 20 bodily, for example, from the dash line position shown in Fig. 3 to the full line position thereof. Plate 20 being inclined, its body movement to the right in Fig. 3 will move the rod 8 longitudinally in accordance with the extent of such body movement, plate 20 gripping the rod 8 and forcing it as stated to the right with a compression of the spring 21. Also the rod 8 will move readily through the locking plate 23, but will be positively held against return movement under normal conditions, spring 25 acting to force the locking plate 25 into locking or gripping engagement of the rod upon any movement to the left (Fig. 3). On the exhaust of air after it has once been entered into the cylinder 12, the spring actuated pin 14 is withdrawn to the position shown in Fig. 4, spring 19 swings the plate 15 to follow pin 14 and the counter-clockwise return of the head 22 will result in a following thereof by the plate 20 which will slide on rod 8 and keep in contact with such rivet head 22 by reason of the spring 21.

Accordingly with either intermittent or periodic operation of the rod 14 by intermittent or periodic introduction of compressed air in the cylinder 12 there will be a periodic or intermittent movement of the rod 8 and the head 9 against the inner end of the stick 7, the extent of feeding movement of the stick being controlled through adjustment of the screw 18.

Such feeding of the stick continues until rod 27 comes against the outer side of the locking plate 23. When this occurs the periodic or intermittent operation of the rod 8 will be either suspended entirely or will not be elfective. The rod 27 coming against the locking plate 23 will move it to inoperative gripping position and at the same time engage the rod 26 and move it against the lower end portion of the plate 20. The continued swinging of plate 15 and body movement of the plate 20 will merely move the plate 20 a short distance along the rod 8 with a return thereof under the force of spring 21 and at the same time the rod 8 will be freed for longitudinal movement to the left in Fig. 4. A subsequent stick of the buffing or polishing material may be placed in the holder after unclamping and removing the remnant of the stick at the outlet end or holder therefor, clamping the new'stick in place in the holder. Also by manually moving plate 23 against spring 25 the rod 8 may be moved to the left as described and a new stick of material put in the stick holder.

The structure described, while of a simple and economical structure, is very practical and etfective, certain in its operation, easily adjusted as to the quantity of buffing or polishing material fed to the wheel, readily installed and as proven upon full test and trial, a very desirable improvement in the art of feeding and controlling the feed of buffing and polishing stick material to buffing and polishing wheels is produced.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. Apparatus as described comprising, an elongated stick holder having an open end and a transverse member at the opposite end, a rod mounted on and slidably passing freely through said transverse member, means mounted beyond said transverse member for longitudinally moving said rod at intervals in the direction of its length toward the open end of said holder, said rod being adapted to engage at one end again-st the inner end of a stick of buffing or polishing material in said holder and slidably bodily move said stick at its other end beyond the open end of said holder, and releasable means associated with said rod beyond said transverse member for normally preventing longitudinal movement of the rod in the opposite direction.

2. Apparatus as described comprising, an elongated horizontal stick holder open at one end, a transverse vertical end meber closing the other end, a feeding rod slidably passing through said member parallel to the length of said holder, a plate through which said rod passes located beyond said vertical end member, said plate grippingly engaging said rod when inclined to the vertical, and freely passing the rod when in substantially vertical position, a second plate back of the upper portion of said first plate extending upwardly above said first plate, means for pivotally mounting the second plate at its lower end on a horizontal axis fixed with relation to said transverse end member below the upper edge of said first plate, spring means on said rod between said first plate and said transverse end member, maintaining the lower portions of the second plate and the upper portion of the first plate in engagement with each other, and stop means on said transverse end member extending toward said second plate limiting the extent of pivotal movement of said second plate toward said transverse member.

3. Structure having the elements in combination defined in claim 2, said stop means comprising a screw having a shank threaded through said transverse end member, an end of said screw being adjustably spaced from the adjacent side of said second plate, and a coiled compress-ion spring bearing at one end against the adjacent side of said second plate, and fixed at its opposite end with relation to said transverse member.

4. Structure having the elements in combination defined in claim 2, and operating means located in general horizontal alignment with the upper portion of said second plate, means for supporting said operating means in fixed relation to said transverse end member, and a longitudinally movable rod forming a part of said operating means alternately movable toward and against said second plate and away therefrom.

5. Apparatus as described comprising, an elongated stick holder having an open end, and a transverse end member closing the opposite end, a feeding rod slidably extending through said transverse end member with the outer end portion of said rod extending beyond said transverse member, said rod paralleling the length of said holder, means carried by said rod and through which the rod passes, said means gripping the rod to move it longitudinally in one direction when said means is bodily moved in said direction, means for bodily moving said first means in said direction at intervals of time, spring means for alternately moving the first means on said rod in the opposite direction, a gripping member operatively associated with said feeding rod back of said first mentioned means, normally holding said rod from longitudinal movement in a direction opposite to the first direction, and means carried by the rod coming against said gripping means and freeing it from gripping engagement with said feeding rod upon moving the rod by said first means a predetermined longitudinal distance of movement.

6. Apparatus as described comprising, an elongated stick holder, open at one end, a transverse end member secured across the other end thereof, an elongated feeding rod parallel to the length of said stick holder slidably passing through said transverse end, two spaced plates connected at one end to the outer side transverse member and extending away therefrom, a third plate, generally parallel to said transverse end member secured to the outer ends of said two first mentioned plates, a locking plate hingedly connected at its upper end to the third plate at its outer side, said rod passing through said third plate and locking plate, spring means between said third plate and locking plate yieldingly moving said locking plate outwardly into gripping engagement with said rod, means for feeding the feeding rod in a direction toward the open end of said holder, and means on said feeding rod normally beyond said locking plate movable with said rod to said locking plate, thereby moving the locking plate to feeding rod releasing position on movement of said rod a predetermined amount.

7. Structure having the elements in combination defined in claim 6, and means interposed between said locking plate and said rod feeding means for rendering said feeding means inoperative by said locking plate when the latter is moved into feeding rod releasing position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

